Door mounting



Sept. 8, 1931. .1. T. FAIRHURST DOOR MOUNT I NG Filed Nov. 1, 1927 5 Sheets-Sheer; l

DOOR MOUNTING Filed Nov. 1, 2 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 WIMWIIlHHQlI 1 l IF II A] ll JF l 1 1 1a 17 1a 1.9 20 21 i Patented Sept. 8, 1931 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE JOHN THOMAS FAIRI-IURST, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., ASSIG-N'OR TO J. G. WILSON CORPORA- TION, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., A CORPORATION OF VIRGINIA DOOR MOUNTING Application filed November 1, 1927. Serial No. 230,249.

My present invention relates to an improvement in mounting doors, particularly adapted for use in doors employed in closing a pocket or closet, constructed to contain a plurality or set of folding partitions, folding beds, or similar devices, the partitions being adapted to fit within the pocket or closet when not in use and the door to close the pocket both when the partitions are contained therein an also to make it unnecessary to fold the last section when the partitions are removed from the pocket or closet for use and the door to close behind them. I am aware that heretofore folding partitions have been employed, and also that in some instances when partitions are not in use, pockets in a casing or wall have been provided for containing the same, whereas in other instances the partitions are merely folded and locked in position when not in use against one of the walls of the room or space that the partitions are adapted to divide. In instances, however, where folding partitions have been adapted to fit into a pocket or closet when not in use, and a door is provided for normally closing the pocket or closet, it was necessary to divide and hinge the door in order to close the door properly when the partitions are in use, and even then so far as I am aware there is no instance when the partitions are in useand the door for the pocket is closed, where the door makes a tight fit with the adjacent partition, not only to maintain the same in position, acting as a stop for this purpose, but also completely closes the space adapted to be shut off by the partition, that is, there is no appreciable gap between the door and the adjacent partition when the door is closed and the partitions are in use.

The object of my invention is the provision of means for so mounting a door as to overcome the ditliculties to which reference has been made, and to make possible the advantageous features referred to. In carrying out the vinvention the door mounting preferably consists of a plurality of bracket arms, each of which at corresponding ends is mounted to swing through a predetermined portion of a revolution, and each of which at its opposite end is provided with a device by which a door at one side thereof is pivotally con nected therto, whereby in opening the door the same is shiftable laterally while swinging open, permitting the edge of the door opposite that on which it is mounted to first swing inwardly and then to swing outwardly, while thedoor is also swinging on its pivotal points so that when open it assumes a position substantially at right angles to that when closed. The reverse operation maintains in closing the door in which it first swings on its pivotal points and then is shiftable laterally to an initial or closed position. WVhen the partitions are in use and the door is closed the outer edge portion oppositethat on which it is mounted is adjacent the edge ofthe adjacent partition walls so as to act as a stop therefor and to leave no gap between these parts, it being understood, of course, that the partition walls are then outside of the pocket and, that the devices upon and by which the partition walls move and are guided are so placed and arranged to make this possible.

The invention will be hereinafter more particularly described in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which Figure 1 is a diagrammatic sectional plan illustrating the invention and the use thereof showing partitions when enclosed in a pocket:

Figure 2 is a similar view showing the partitions in position for use,

Figure 3 is a similar view showing the closed door pivotally open,

Figure 4 is also a similar view showing a pair of partitions partly extended and the closet door part way open,

Figure 5 is a sectional plan on an enlarged scale illustrating one of the door mounting devices,

Figure 6 is a view. similar to Figure 5 showing the door in an open position,

Figure 7 is an enlarged sectionalelevation on line 77, Figure 1,

Figure 8 is an enlarged section on line 8-8, Figure 7, r

Figure-9 is an elevationshowing the partitions'in their positions for use,

Figure 10 is an enlarged section on line 1010, Fig. 9 showing the members for guiding and locking the partitions in place, and upon which they slide to and from the position for use, and

Figure 11 is a view similar to Figure 10 showing the partitions in another position.

By referring to the drawings a door is indicated at 1.0. This door by the improved door mounting devices is associated with a casing 11, which may be a wall or a part of a wall or the like. In the casing or wall there is a pocket or closet 12 and adjacent one side of the pocket the casing or wall is provided with a jamb or abutment 13 having a rabbeted surface 14 adapted to co-operate with a beveled edge portion 15 of the door.

As indicated in the drawings the invention is illustrated in connection with a plurality of folding partitions arranged in sets or pairs and adapted when not in use to be contained in the pocket 12 and when in use to be extended, as indicated in Figure 9, to divide a room or space as may be desired. These partitions are indicated at 16, 17 18, 19, 20 and 21, it being understood, of course, that any number of partititons or pairs of partitions may be employed in any instance as is necessary, depending upon the width of each partition and the consequent length of the same when extended to position for use. As shown in Fig. 1 the partitions when not in use he wholly within the pocket 12 and as shown in Figs. 2 and 3 when these partitions are extended foruse they all lie outside of the pocket 12.

In a corner portion of the pocket or within the casing I prefer to employ a shaft 22 mounted to rotate in bearing sockets 23 and 24, the former of which, as illustrated, may be suitably secured in the floor and the lat ter in the top wall of the closet. The use of this shaft is merely illustrative, as other equivalent means may obviously be employed. Suitably connected to this shaft I employ a plurality of bracket arms. Three of these arms are illustrated but, of course, in some instances it may be necessary to employ only two and in others it may be necessary to employ more than three. The number of arms, however, forms no part of the invention. These arms are similarly constructed and but one of them will be specifically described. One of these arms, therefore, is indicated at 25 and preferably includes a hub atone end of a straight portion adapted to be secured to the shaft 22 by means of a set screw or otherwise. A part of the arm is bent or curved and at the opposite end thereof there is a head 28 provided with an eye 29 and adapted to fit between lugs 30 and 31 on a bracket 82, and to receive a pin 33 adapted to pass through the lugs and the eye 29 in the head 28, while the bracket 32 by any suitable means is secured to the door 10 whereby, as will be understood, the door is pivotally connected to and mounted upon the set of bracket arms 25. In a suitable position the door may be provided with one or more handles, one of which is indicated at 34. In suitable positions the edge portion of the casing 11 is notched or recessed, as inclicated at 35, in order to permit the bracket arms 26 to swing from the position shown in Figure 5 when the door is closed to that shown in Figure 6 in which the door is fully opened. Furthermore, as illustrated, the casing may be provided with suitable stops 36 determining the closed position of the door.

From the foregoing description it will now be understood thatthe door when closedassumes a position as illustrated in Figures 1 and 2, and that by applying a pushing or pulling force against the handle 34 the door may be moved from its closed position as shown in Figures 1 and 2, through the positions shown in Figures 3 and 4:, to the open position as illustrated in Figure 6. In so moving the door the same is shifted laterally or transversely and at the same time permitted to revolve or turn about the pivotal points or pins mounted in the brackets 32, and to be shifted bodily, that is, as a unit, by the swinging movement of the bracket arms 25, which swing from the position shown in Figure 5 to that shown in Figure 6. In this opening movement of the door the beveled edge thereof swings an appreciable distance inwardly into the pocket 12 and sufficiently far to clear the partitions when in the pocket, and when the partitions are in use to move clear of the edge of the adjacent partition 16, thereupon, as will be understood, the opening movement of the door may be continued, causing the same to swing from the position shown in Figure 4 to that shown in Figure 6 wherein the door is fully opened, and it is then pos-' sible to shift the partitions from their positions in the pocket as shown in Figure 1 to their positions for use as shown, for example,

in Figures 2 and 9 and vice versa. The opposite or closing movement of the door is the reverse of that hereinbefore described, and in which the door is permitted to swing and to be shifted laterally so that the beveled edge thereof will slide by the rabbeted portion of the jamb and against the jamb at the same time clearing the adjacent edge of the adj acent partition 16 when the partitions are in position for use, and to clear the partition when in place in the pocket. This arrangement is such, as will be understood, that when the partitions are in use a part of the outer face of the door adjacent the beveled edge thereof may abut against the adjacent edge of the partition 16, thereby forming a stop for the same and entirely closing the space intended to be divided by the partitions when in use.

Inasmuch as the door mountings forming the subject matter of the present invention are illustrated as particularly adapted for use with folding partitions the means for operating the partitions are also illustrated and will be briefly described. As shown, the partitions 16 to 21 inclusive are adapted to run on a track 37 in which there is a centrally disposed longitudinal groove .38. The partitions, as illustrated in Figure 9, are arranged in pivotally connected pairs, that is, the adj acent edges of each pair of partitions are pivotally connected by hinges or otherwise in a customary manner. At the lower distant portions of each pair of partitions the same are fitted with a tracker plate 39 forming part of the frame mounted in the partition and carrying an axle 40 on which rollers 41 and 42 are mounted. The tracker plate 39 is adapted to move in the groove 38 and the rollers 40 and 41 to travel on the adjacent surfaces of the track 37. The frame in which these parts are mounted includes a pintle 4L3 upon which the parts are adapted to swivel so that the partition wall may swing. The

L rail 37 extends from the pocket at one end thereof across the space are adapted to divide when in position for use. At the distant upper portions of each pair of partitions the same are provided with devices for guiding them to and from their positions for use. The guiding devices include a pintle 48 at the upper end of which there is a roller 49 operating in the guideway 50 which is immediately over the track 37, and is co-extensive therewith, and, of course, runs in the same direction. Vhile it forms no part of the present invention means are also provided for normally maintaining each pair of partitions in their aligned positions when in use. To this end the guide member 50 is fitted in a rail or casing 57 in which there is a groove 58 and a notch 59, whereas the upper edge of one of each pair of partitions there is a pin adapted as the partitions are which the partitions moved to alignment for use to pass through the notch 59 into the groove 58 in which the pin remains until the partitions are again shifted to move the same into the pocket when the pin 60 passes through the notch 59 and out of the groove 58, it being understood that while the pin 60 is in the groove 58 the partitions are maintained in their aligned positions for use. Of course, it will be understood that other and equivalent means for shifting the partitions to and from their operative positions may be employed and that the door mounting devices may be employed for other purposes than for use in conjunction with folding partitions, although, as hereinbefore stated, the door mounting devices to which the present invention more particularly relates are especially adapted for use in connection with the type of folding partitions herein shown and described and for the purposes stated.

I claim as my invention:

1. In a section fold partition having a plurality of doors hinged together in pairs and arranged to move in guides to form a partition and a pocket in which the doors are adapted to fit, when folded together, a swinging door having a beveled edge to close the pocket when the partition doors are folded within the same, and means for mounting the pocket door to move a portion of the outer face thereof to a position behind the edge of the folding partition and to bring the beveled edge thereof against the jamb and produce a cam movement against the edge of the partition when the partition doors are all in extended edge-to-edge relation.

2. In an apparatus of the class described having a pocket, a plurality of folding partitions hinged together in pairs and adapted to be folded into said pocket and unfolded into alignment to extend across a predetermined space, and means for maintaining said partitions in alignment when unfolded from the pocket, a door frame comprising a jamb having a rabbeted face, a beveled edged pocket door mounted in said frame, and means to swing and shift the door to a point behind the edge of the next adjacent partition when the partitions are unfolded, and to engage the outer beveled margin of the door with said face of the jamb whereby when the partitions are unfolded outside of the pocket and the door is closed, the door acts to hold the partitions in tight formation.

3. In a section fold partition, having a series of partition sections each comprising a plurality of doors hinged together, and a pocket constructed and arranged to receive said sections when the doors thereof are in a folded position, a beveled edged door for closing said pocket when the doors of the sections are in an extended position, said beveled edge guiding the pocket door to move one face of the same against the edge of the adjacent extended end section of the partition upon closing the pocket door and thereby holding the section tight in an aligned position.

1 S7igned by me this 15th day of October,

JOHN THOMAS FAIRHURST. 

